Now based in London, his previous postings include Beijing, Moscow and the Middle East.

MacKinnon first book, The New Cold War: Revolutions, Rigged Elections and Pipeline Politics in the Former Soviet Union was published in 2007 by Random House in Canada,[2] and by Carroll and Graf in the United States. It is "a nuanced study that demonstrates the continuity of conflict between the U.S. and Russia", and discusses the emergence of a new "Cold War" in the 2000s (decade).[3]